President Donald Trump is levying tariffs on several major trading partners. And they're striking back.

China says it's prepared for "the biggest trade war in economic history" and promises to impose retaliatory tariffs of "equal scale and equal strength" on U.S. goods. The European Union has slapped tariffs on U.S. products ranging from bourbon to motorcycles. And Mexico has hiked tariffs on $3 billion worth of American imports.

These countries are playing with fire -- a full-blown trade war could deeply damage their economies since they're heavily dependent on exporting goods to America. They'd be wise to de-escalate tensions and address the structural trade imbalances that have angered President Trump.

For inspiration, they could look to Switzerland, a famously neutral country that has quietly carried on a balanced and mutually beneficial trading relationship with the United States.

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Naysayers aside, I believe the effects of President Trump's hardline approach to outdated and often unfair trade practices by other countries are starting to become overwhelmingly and positively evident. It was wrong for the Liberals to "side with the outside" since the beginning and not give the President's methods time to evolve and play out. This is the first time, apparently, that the U.S. has had a business person as president so it was a given that he would do things that are completely unheard of in the political world, and I think it is just what the U.S. needed. Nobody said it was going to be easy for our foreign trading partners to swallow the new way of doing business with the U.S.; as President Trump clearly stated from the beginning, this is the new normal and the U.S. will take care of the U.S. first. This was never meant to alienate our trading partners or our allies, but it was and is an adjustment of very large proportions. I further believe that in order to tackle such a massive issue, massive and extremely disruptive measures needed, and need, to be taken in order for a correction to be completed before the end of President Trump's first term because, let's face it, there is no guarantee he will get a second term. I respect him for that self-assessment and for his drive to get the job done now as opposed to letting it fall under another administration. Let's also face the fact that, if the policies work and the numbers become irrefutable, then it will be hard to go back to the old way of conducting trade in the future. Cheers everyone!